Publishing in the New England Journal of Medicine today, an international research collaboration led by Professor Tazeen H. Jafar from the Health Services and Systems Research Programme at Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, has found that a low-cost, multi-component intervention comprising home visits by community healthcare workers to monitor blood pressure (BP) and provide lifestyle coaching, coupled with physician training and coordination with the public health care infrastructure, led to clinically meaningful reductions in BP as well better BP control in the intervention group.

With recent developments in prenatal screening, more parents are expected to receive a Down syndrome diagnosis before the birth of their child, which can involve complex decision-making for many. To understand what such a diagnosis means for parents who decide to continue their pregnancy and prepare for a child with Down syndrome (DS), the Dutch Down Syndrome Foundation surveyed 212 parents of children with DS born between 2010 and 2016.